digital ethics
When your voice runs away from home
Cloning a voice can today be done with less than a minute of recorded material. But are you aware of who is using your voice and for what?
Per Axbom
Writing, teaching and consulting for a safe, compassionate internet. Explaining risks and opportunities of digital so people can make better choices for themselves and for the wellbeing of others.
digital ethics
Why that open letter urging an AI development pause is problematic
Applied ethics isn't a checklist. It's about putting in the time and effort to understand risks to wellbeing with the express intent of avoiding, mitigating and monitoring harm. It makes sense then to assume that the open call to pause AI development is a good thing.
digital exploitation
Ignoring harm to others when you yourself benefit
How harmful does something need to be for people to stop using it? How much do you yourself need to benefit to choose to ignore the harm done to others? When I left Facebook some years ago I emphasised how it was the (very late) acknowledgement of harm done to
digital guidance
It's still a paywall without money
"You need to register to keep reading. It’s still free to read – this is not a paywall" I'm growing tired of this wording. Yes, it is a paywall - the only difference is the type of currency you are paying with. If it wasn'
World Down Syndrome Day 2023
World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21 in recognition of the uniqueness of the triplication of the 21st chromosome.
AI
Chatbot pollution
Humanity will never again get back the time spent on reading posts entirely made up by language models, much of it with fabulated content that is just not based in any fact or reason. Time spent consuming concocted content will amount to hundreds of thousands of centuries of human time
digital ethics
AI responsibility in a hyped-up world
It's never more easy to get scammed than during an ongoing hype. It's March 2023 and we're in the middle of one. Rarely have I seen so many people embrace a brand new experimental solution with so little questioning. Right now, it's
digital lifestyle
Overpowering TikTok filters
In a race towards the post-reality era, TikTok are leading the way. Image filters are now at a stage where they trigger visceral emotions and have a very real impact on psychological wellbeing. They have effects on self-esteem, self-image and confidence. More than that, they provide a glimpse of a
Goodbye Dickinson, hello AI-generated literature
The same celebrated AI tools that save time for one group of people will make things harder and prompt plenty of headaches for others. Among other things, the tools will force us to rethink how literary works are published. We are facing an avalanche of books written by machines, and
podcast
New podcast: Carefully with Per Axbom
I started my first podcast in the spring of 2007, not long before the first iPhone was released to the world. Back then the origin of the word podcast was more obvious, as dedicated producers and consumers of course listened on Apple's groundbreaking mp3 player, the iPod. After
Carefully with Per Axbom
The ability that makes me who I am
"But what is it you really work with, Per?" I get this question from time to time in the workplace. Over the years it has, contrary to my expectations, become harder to answer. Not because I do not know, but because it is not readily summarised in an
Carefully with Per Axbom
Join the Journey
Digital tools, smart devices, AI and virtual worlds are celebrated for the problems they solve, while the problems they create are concealed or glossed over. My name is Per Axbom and I’m a Swedish communication theorist born in Liberia. My international upbringing, my early 80s computer enthusiasm, aligned with